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Mahindra Thar to lead Rs. 12.50+ lakh SUV segment

PUNE: Mahindra, the SUV specialist, has an ambitious plan to make its popular Thar SUV number one brand among the top five SUV brands in the country, the world’s third biggest automobile market.

The Mumbai-based automaker, which has invested over Rs 1,000 crore in developing its new Thar Roxx SUV to break norms and redefine the growing SUV market, said it would introduce more models to garner volumes.

The Thar Roxx is the second model in the Thar line-up with which the company is pushing to make the off-roader a mainstream brand in the country.

Mahindra is banking on the new Thar Roxx SUV to bring incremental sales volumes as it marches on to be on the top brand cars.

The Thar Roxx, with a starting price of Rs 12.99 Lakh, is based on a new Gylde platform, and the automaker plans to build a portfolio of models on this architecture to appeal to a wider audience.

“There will be more products coming out of the Thar portfolio. When we talk about our ambition to be number one in the coming 3-5 years, you will see different versions coming out,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director of the Auto and Farm Sector at Mahindra & Mahindra.

He said models priced above Rs 12.50 lakh comprise around 45 per cent of the SUV market, and Mahindra’s market share is 27 per cent. “So, we have the opportunity to make Thar the number one brand over the next three to five years in the Rs 12.50+ lakh category," he asserted.

Mahindra has two brands in this bracket, and its Scorpio portfolio (consisting of Scorpio-N and Classic) is currently the number one brand in the Rs 12.50+ lakh market and Mahindra XUV7OO was the number five brand in this category.

Mahindra officials said the company was building scale through volume which was essential to create a moat.

At present the 3-door Thar currently sells about 4,000 to 4,500 units monthly. Mahindra has already reduced the future production plan to 3,000 units per month, factoring in some form of cannibalization. The monthly production target of the new 5-door Thar Roxx SUV is 6,500 units. Thus, the production volume of the two models together would be over 9,500 units.


( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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